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It’s finally here. Capcom’s fourth installment in the fighting game series that fans old and new have come to love for generations. The days of the coin-op cabinets in the loud, dark arcade centers now replaced by home entertainment consoles and an internet connection. What were once local legends now formed into world warriors.
Thinking about all the changes in how and where fighting games are enjoyed through time, its oddly nostalgic and comforting to pick up Street Fighter IV and realize that, even though this a newly released game with a new look and presentation, there is something familiar inside.
History… NOW!
To understand where I am coming from with this, you have to have played a little game called Super Street Fighter II Turbo or, even better, the gorgeously updated Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Depending on how hardcore you take your fighting games, Super Street Fighter II Turbo was nearly the perfect fighting game. There was almost a harmony of balance in the fighter roster that enabled anyone to compete.
Then came Street Fighter III: Third Strike which ripped apart the character roster and placed in more hardcore focused technical aspects such as the parrying system. This is not to say that Third Strike wasn’t a good fighting game, quite the contrary. Third Strike was amazing fighting game that lacked an essential component: accessibility. That is were Capcom decided to return to their roots in Street Fighter IV.
A large part of this accessibility comes from the return of familiar faces including previously missing fan favorites Guile and E. Honda. Unfortunately, if you have friends like mine, this also means the return of utilizing a short range Chun-Li into dodging an onslaught of a constantly backwards moving sonic booms via Guile. There are also new challengers to the series: Crimson Viper, belly-physics galore Rufus, speed demon luchador El Fuerte, Gen and the mysterious Rose.
The Soul of a Fighter
Newcomers to the series will find that character move sets can be learned quickly with the challenge coming from where it should: finding a way to use those moves effectively. An added layer of effectiveness comes from the “revenge” gauge which gives the players an opportunity to deliver a devastating combination of hits to their opponent which is especially pleasing in the game’s new graphical look.
With the exception of Guilty Gear, most fighting games in the current generation have gone 3D. While this works for games like Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur, Street Fighter never quite felt right in its 3D incarnation: Street Fighter EX. Which makes the decision to use 3D graphics on a 2D plane for Street Fighter IV a blessing. Not only does the game look both phenomenal and modern, but it runs beautifully with smooth animations and keeps the soul of fighting in a Street Fighter game alive.
Speaking of keeping the soul of Street Fighter alive, there’s been a lot of talk about Street Fighter IV and arcade sticks. You don’t need an arcade stick to enjoy Street Fighter IV. I managed to pull off 97 percent of my attacks with a standard controller using the analog sticks. The only exceptions were pulling off Chun-li’s “Hosenka” combo. She decided to wall jump instead. However, I do recommend picking up a stick if your planning on more than just casual play.
Nice Pants
For those wanting to become a Street Fighter legend, Street Fighter IV‘s online system is were you are going to be spending a lot of your time. Leaderboard rankings and player stats are all tracked in-game and you can even be challenged by an online opponent during an Arcade mode playthrough via the “Arcade Fight Request” system. Of course, if your like me and would prefer not to be disturbed while pummeling your way through CPU opponents unlocking characters, practicing, feeling like a big shot, then you can turn off the request system.
On the subject of unlocking characters, why Capcom felt they needed to include this heavily unpopular practice, I don’t know. If they felt like giving me something more to do with the single-player mode, why not have me unlock something more meaningful like costumes instead of paying for them separately? You can already unlock poses, player titles, and costume colors in the challenge modes so why not at least one set of costumes rather than something that should be readily available like characters? It’s just annoying especially when a lot of gamers are going to find it hard to swallow a $60 price tag on a fighting game with little to offer on the features side.
Maybe that will be something addressed in the next Street Fighter iteration. I mean, who’s to say what happens with the series from here on out?
Even so, it doesn’t even matter because while no fighting game has achieved the status of being a perfect fighting game, Street Fighter IV comes pretty close.
Site [Street Fighter IV] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]
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